Weekly Crime Column

  • Crime: If You Like Boardwalk Empire

    I just finished season one of Boardwalk Empire, Martin Scorcese’s series set in prohibition era Atlantic City, and am dying for more. I love good immersive TV experiences (and saving money with library DVDs), but in the end you’re as bereft as if you’d just finished a satisfying long novel. So I put together a couple of… Continue reading

  • Crime: William Faulker, detective?

    This week, I’m loitering in the F’s in my alphabet of crime, because I’ve got an axe to grind. Recently, Atlantic Monthly added its voice to the endless, senseless eyebrow maneuvers (highbrow/lowbrow) that persist in the foothills of the culture wars, in a piece by Maura Kelly called A Slow-Books Manifesto. The gist of the piece is to get more… Continue reading

  • Crime: Four Felonious Frasers.

    In publishing it has always been called the “mid-list” – that amorphous body of works that don’t get the attention of heavily promoted bestsellers. It is the vast majority of what gets published, and in the mystery section of any good bookstore or library, it is the source of untold riches. Working my way through my alphabet of… Continue reading

  • Crime: E is for Evanovich? Prolific lady sleuths.

    “You know what I really love a book to have?” she asked me. “No, what?” “About 20 sequels!!” We were counting through Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books, but she’d already read all 18, and was getting desperate. In fact, she’d also been through our If You Like Janet Evanovich list, and looked through a few other library’s lists as well.… Continue reading

  • Crime: Mad Dogs and Estleman

    Advancing through my Alphabet of Crime, I pause at the E’s to share a couple of the best hardboiled mystery writers around: Loren Estleman and James Ellroy. The use of the term “hard-boiled” to describe fiction – borrowed from an early 20th-century expression for experienced tough guys – may date from February 17, 1929 when the New York Times… Continue reading

  • Crime: The Sherlock Holmes you don’t know.

    Arriving at the D’s in my Alphabet of Crime, I want to pay homage to Arthur Conan Doyle, or more specifically to his greatest creation. Sherlock Holmes is especially hot right now, but as arguably the most beloved series character in the history of fiction, he never really goes out of style. Of course you can… Continue reading

  • Nightstand Reads: Dana Stabenow

    Alaksa native Dana Stabenow is the author of two popular crime series set in her home state: nearly a score of titles featuring kickass Aleut private eye Kate Shugak, and a quartet of titles centering on straight-shooting state trooper Liam Campbell. The pair finally meet in Stabenow’s newest title, Restless in the Grave, released on Valentine’s Day.… Continue reading

  • Crime: If you like J.A. Jance mysteries …

    Most of the J.A. Jance fans I know have a deep affinity for J.P. Beaumont, the Seattle detective who lets us see just enough of his personal life to make him real, then brings us right back to a tight focus on the case. We love his smart, brooding character; we’re crazy for the Seattle setting and we… Continue reading

  • Crime: The Man Who Was Thursday, by G.K. Chesterton

    Last week I talked about E.C. Bentley’s singular mystery Trent’s Last Case, which was dedicated to his old friend G.K. Chesterton; now that I’ve reached the C’s in my alphabet of crime, it seems only fitting to revisit Chesterton’s singular thriller, The Man Who Was Thursday, itself dedicated to Bentley. Although mystery fans will best… Continue reading

  • Crime: The Singular Pleasures of E.C. Bentley

    This year I’m reading my way through the mystery section, A-Z. Read along, won’t you? I’ve just had the best time reading E.C. Bentley’s Trent’s Last Case, a beguiling whodunit that prefigured crime’s Golden Age. It is 1913, and detectives are very much dominated by Sherlock Holmes and his countless imitators, such long forgotten ratiocinators as Sexton Blake, Duckworth Drewe,… Continue reading

  • An Alphabet of Crime: Killer B’s

    Arriving at the B’s in my project to read through the mystery aisle, I can’t help but notice some favorite darker mystery authors that I’d love to share. Next week I’ll try something new, but for now here are some old friends: Christine Falls, by Benjamin Black. Black has brilliance to spare. Having already written a layered spy novel to rival… Continue reading

  • An Alphabet of Crime: Margery Allingham

    I made a couple of New Year’s resolutions involving crime this year: to start up a regular weekly crime column here in ShelfTalk, and to alphabetically read my way through the mystery section at the Central Library, two authors/letters each month. My colleague Linda has done this twice, up to the letter G anyway, and so I… Continue reading